Abstract

The literature on the politics of international liberalization generally supposes that incumbent firms with important stakes in their home markets will lobby against the entrance of foreign competitors. This should be especially true in the markets of network services, which were traditionally structured around monopoly provision in most countries. Yet, are dominant firms really opposed to the liberalization of their markets? This dissertation studies the lobbying of incumbents concerning the international service trade negotiations in two sectors � telecommunications and air transport � and two countries � the US and the EU. It demonstrates that large service providers have actually lobbied in support of the liberalization of their sectors, with the exception of US airlines which prefer preserving the current system. Seeking to explain this support for liberalization, the dissertation examines the weight of four variables that might determine the policy stances of large firms: (1) economic incentives, (2) domestic regulatory traditions, (3) international regimes and (4) policy processes. In line with traditional trade policy literature, it finds that economic incentives play an important role, but it also highlights the effect of political processes and institutions on the trade preferences of economic actors. In particular, the multi-level process of EU policy making provides an incentive to lobby in support of liberalization. On a more theoretical note, the analysis of business-government interactions over time highlights the importance of endogenizing the preferences of economic actors into a theory of the policy process, as preferences evolve over the course of a firm�s lobbying activities.